Combined connecting-block and fuse-block



R. B. BENJAMIN.

COMBINED CONNECTING BLOCK AND FUSE BLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3.1918.

1,352,778. PatentedSept. 14, 1920.

2 $HEETSSHEET l.

JIM

R. B. BENJAMIN.

COMBINED CONNECTING BLOCK AND FUSE BLOCK.

APPLlCATiON FILED JULY 3.191s.

' PatentedSept. 14, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

REUBEN B. BENJAMIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 BENJAMIN ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLI- N OIS.

Application filed July 3,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, REUBEN B. BENJAMIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Combined Connecting- Block and F use-Block, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification. v

This invention relates to an improved combined connecting block and fuse block, one of the objects being to provide a device which has provision for leading off conductors to side circuits in which fuses are not required at the point where the connections are made with the main feedwires, and also provision whereby fused side circuits may e box containing means providing such facilities has practical utility in many situations. A urther object is to provide a device having the above advantages and which may be included in and form a part of a system of wiring conduits, the parts being sealed against the entrance of moisture, gases and the like into the system.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of one form of the invention, part of the casing being broken away to show one of the receptacles;

Fig. 2 shows the switch block and fuse block inv elevation, the casing of the device 35 b eing shown in section;

F ig. 3 is a sectional view of the fuse block, the section being taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1; I

Fig. 4 is a sectional view the section being taken on Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a detail, showing means for securing a conductor in place.

the section being taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; v

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the connecting block;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but

showing the method of wiring;

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view,'the section being taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 isa plan view of another form of the invention, part of the casing being broken away to show the block;

. COMBINED CONNECTING- Specification of Letters Patent.

taken off at the same point. A junction.

of the fuse block, the line 4.4 of

BLOCK AND FUSE-BLOCK.

Patented Sept. 14, 1920.

1918. Serial No. 243,144.

Fig. 10 is an elevational side view with a portion of the casing broken away;

Fig.11 is a sectional view of the fuse block, the section being taken on the line ll-1l of Fig. 9;

Fig. 12 is a sectional view of the fuse block, the section being taken on the line l2l2 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 13 is a detail sectional view showing means for securing a conductor in place;

gig. 14 is a plan view of the fuse block; an

Fig. 15 is a view similar to Fig. 14, but showing the method of wiring.

eferring first to the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive, 20 is the connecting block upon which is mounted the fuse block 21. These parts are inclosed in a water tight casing, including a body portion 22 and a cap member 23 which is formed with a flange and is secured in place by means of screws 2 1- passing through the flange. To make a water tight seal between the parts 22 and 23, a gasket ring 25 is employed, this ring being clamped between the parts when the screws 24 are tightened to draw them together. The casing is formed with four screw threaded outlets 26 for the reception of the threaded ends of conduit pipes. In the bottom of the casing there is provided also a threaded opening 27 for the reception of a threaded conduit pipe. Rising from the bottom of the suitable supporting lugs 28, upon which is secured the connecting block 20 by means of screws which pass through openings 29 into these lugs.

The connecting block 20 is formed with suitable recesses in which lie a pair of connecting plates 30 and 31, and with a central opening 32, through which-the main supply wires come up to the binding screws 33 and 34 of theplates 30-and 31. Each plate is secured to the connecting block by screws 35 and 36 which pass up through the block, the ends of these screws being seen in Fig. 6. The main feed wires enter the casing through the opening 27, while the wires of the unfused branch circuits may pass out through the openings 26 which are disposed around thesides of the casing.

Referring particularly to Fig. 7, the conductors 37 and 38, which are supposed to lead to a l unfused side circuit, are electrically connected to strips or plates 39 and 40. Each of these plates is held in position by a pair of screws 41 and 42 which pass through the small clamping plates and are plates 30 and 31; A pair of conductors 43 and 14 are shown connected to the plates 30 and '31 by means of clamping plates 45 and 46, similar to the plates 39 and 4:0. The connecting block is providedwith other terminals for receiving the ends of wires if it is desired to obtain another infused side circuit, the binding screws 47 and 48 being provided for this purpose.

7 such as would be made when circuits are The fuse block 21 consists of a a insulating material having four recesses for strips, and they serve to connect the receptacle the reception of. threaded shell contacts e9. Each of these shell contacts has an inturned flange 50 at" its lower edge and is secured in position by means of a block 51 of-insulating material which-is located in the contact shell and rests upon the inturned flange. The blockof insulating material is held firmly in place by means of an eyelet or hollow rivet 52, which passes through it and through the fuse block; and alsopasses through the end of one of the metallic conducting strips 53. .There are two of these center contacts of the receptacles in pairs. In one of each pair the eyelet forms the center contact, while in the other receptacle this center contact is formed by a screw 5a which extends through the eyelet and into a threaded hole54i in one of the plates 30 or 31 of the connecting block. Each of these screws 5& thus affords electrical connection between the center contacts of two of'the fusesand one of the plates of the connecting block.- At the same time they serve to hold the fuse block firmly to the connecting block.

The fuse block is provided with means of 7 its own for receiving the ends ofthe wires of the fused branch circuits, the connection being made with, theth-readedshell contacts For this purpose the fuse block is formed with openings 56 into which the the under side of the fiangeQfzQ Of he shell the plates 30 and 31 by V clamping their ends under small clamping threaded into the The connectlons thus far described are block r include two fuses which are not included in 3 any other circuit.

In the form of my inventionshown in Figs. 9 to 15 inclusive, the fuse block has but two receptacles and the two fused cir cuitsemploy the same pair of fuses. Referring to the drawingsillustrating this form of the invention ithe casing 60 is provided withsuitable supporting lugs 61, upon which is secured the fuse block 62 by means of the screws 6%. This fuse block is provided with connecting plates 63 and 6e which are secured in position by screws 65 and 66 which extend up throughthe fuse block. Each of these plates 63 and 641s pro vided with clamping :plates 67 and 68 which are clamped upon the bared portions conductors by means of screws 69.. An unfuse'd side. circuit may be obtained by securing the end of a conductor under each of the clamping plates '70. Binding screws 71 and 72 are also provided for another unfused circuit. V

The fuse b1ock72 is formed .ofinsulating Of the.

material and in thisfo'rmof the invention has two recesses for the reception of threaded outer contact shells 73. fEach of) these shells has an inturned flange 74: and 1s secured in position by small screws 75 and 7 6 which pass up from theunder side.-

of the fuse block through the flange 74 into threadedholes in small'platesf77 and 78.

The center contact of each rece ptacle' is formed by a screw 79 which is centrally located with respect to this receptacle these two screws extending into'thc contact plates" 63 and 64C and thus making electrical connection as well as mechanically securing the parts together. The means whereby electrical connection is made between the end of a conductor and the outer or shell. contact of the receptacle is similar to that employed for this purpose in the form of the invention first described but in this case two side circuits may, be secured, although there are 7 On opposite sides but two fuses provided. of each plug receptacle the block is formed with side openings 80 and 81. Registering with these openings are [clamping plates .82 and 83. The bared ends of the conductors are-inserted through the openings 80 and 81 between the plates '82 and 83 'and the flanges of the shell contacts 73 ih hen the screws 84 and 85 are tightened the ends of the wires are clamped firmly in position. When it is desired to provide a branch circuit with fuses included the wires will be connected'to the two clamping plates on the same side of the fuse blocl A similar fused circuit can be obtained by connecting the wires to the same pair of shell contacts but on the opposite side of the fuse block, by means of the other clamping plates.

With a combined connecting block and fuse block made in accordance with this invention either fused or unfused side circuits may be very readily obtained when desired. The parts of the device are thoroughly protected from moisture, oil, vapors and the like. In some cases it may not at first be desired to have fused side circuits, in which case the device would be used merely as a connecting block, but whenever it became necessary to provide one or two side circuits having fuses these could be obtained very readily by making connection with the binding terminals of the fuse block.

It will be seen that when a device of this kind is included in a system of conduits it forms an outlet box which is normally sealed, and which is therefore adapted to be used in exposed positions, as for instance in many places on ship board, and at the same time the addition of new side circuits as desired from time to time may be done without difficulty, and these circuits may have fuses included or not.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 1. The combination of a connecting block, a pair of connecting plates carried thereby, binding terminals for said connecting plates, an insulating block mounted on said connecting block and formed with a recess, a shell contact in said recess, said block havingan aperture communicating with said recess, a binding terminal for said shell con tact accessible through said aperture, and means for securing said insulating block to said connecting block, said means also providing a center contact corresponding to the shell contact and communicating with one of the connecting plates on the connecting block.

2. The combination of a connecting block, conducting plates carried thereby, means for securing the ends of wires to said plates, a fuse block having a plurality of fuse plug receiving receptacles provided with outer contacts and means adapted to secure said fuse block to said connecting block and also to provide a center contact for each receptacle in electrical communication with one of said plates.

3. The combination of a connecting block, a plate carried thereby arranged for receiving the ends of conductors, a fuse block mounted on the connecting block and com prising a fuse plug receiving receptacle, and mechanical securing means adapted to retain the fuse block in position with respect to the connecting block and adapted also to form one of the contacts for the receptacle in electrical connection with said plate.

4. The combination of an insulating block, conducting plates on said block, binding terminals on said plates, a fuse block arranged to be mounted on said first-named block, a shell contact supported by said fuse block, a plurality of binding terminals for said shell contact, and a center contact member which extends to one of the conducting plates on said insulating block.

5. The combination of a connecting block, a pair of connecting plates carried thereby, binding terminals on said connecting plates, a fuse block adapted to be mounted on said connecting block and comprising two receptacles each having an outer contact, a pair of binding terminals for each of said outer contacts, and a center contact member for each of said receptacles, said center contact members extending to the connecting plates of the connecting block.

6. An electrical connector device, comprising an insulating base, wiring terminals mounted on said insulating base for the main feed wires, wiring terminals mounted on said insulating base for a branch circuit, a second insulating base secured on top of said first insulating base, between which bases said wiring terminals are inclosed, fuse receptacle contacts mounted on said sec ond base, wiring terminals for a fused branch circuit electrically connected with said receptacle contacts, and also mounted on said second base, and an electrical connection between said fuse receptacle contacts and the wiring terminals for the main feed wires.

7. An electrical connector device comprising an insulating base, wiring terminals mounted thereon for the main feed wires, other wiring terminals therein for branch circuit connections, a second insulating base, fuse receptacle contacts mounted on said second base, wiring terminals for a fused branch circuit also mounted on said second base and electrically connected with the contacts of said fuse receptacle, and common means for holding said bases together and electrically connecting a fuse receptacle contact with a main feed wire terminal.

8. An electrical connector device comprising an insulating base, wiring terminals mounted thereon for the main feed wires, other wiring terminals mounted thereon for a branch circuit, a second insulating base, fuse receptacle contacts mounted on said second base, wiring terminals for a branch fused circuit also mounted on said second base, and electrically connected with said fuse receptacle contacts, and means iormee chanlcally connectlng sa d bases together and electrically connecting a use receptacle contact'with a main feed wire terminal.

9. An electrical connector device comprisin an insulating base having a central opening therein for the main feed Wires, Wiring terminals for the main feed Wires mounted on said insulating base, wiring terminals for a branch circuit also mounted on said insulating base, a second insulating base mounted on top of said first insulating base,

la a-m said Wiring terminals being inclosed between said bases, fuse receptacle contacts supp0rted by said second lnsulatlng base,and electrically connected with said mam feed WH'G terminals, and Wiring terminals for a fused REUBEN B. BENJAMIN, 

